k_immi_e

Also... my 4 year old will be actually turning 4 on this cruise. So that will

be fun! We will be spending it in Costa Maya! Woo! 

We have decided! Thank you all for your advice. 
 

We are going to.....

MEXICO! Whooo!

The countdown begins.... 630 days 😂. We choose the Western itinerary based on your guys feedback as well as when looking at the ports on YouTube, it seemed the Western had more choices than just beach days. Sloths in Mahogany Bay!

thank you again! 

To confirm... Eastern is the San Juan Cruise & Western is the Mexico cruise. 
 

I get them mixed up all the time 😂

Hi there!

We were supposed to be on Radiance this October, so bummed it didn’t work out. We took the FCC & OBC option and am looking for our next cruise. But this time we are going to take our daughter.

We are looking at either of these cruises and need advice on which one would be more kid friendly. She will be 4 at the time. We want to make it a great family vacation and try to do as much as possible together and not just leave her in the kids club. The two cruises we are looking at are:

Mardi Gras- April 23,2022 to San Juan/Amber Cove/Grand Turk or

Mardi Gras- April 30,2022 to Cozumel/Mahogany Bay/Costa Maya

I feel We can’t go wrong with either, just wanted to get others experience. 
 

thanks! 
 

kim

Kim, I am so glad you had a wonderful cruise after all the hoops you had to go through to get you passport!! I was wondering if you were going to run in to the mess that Matthew caused - but I 'm glad you got the extra time, if anyone deserves it you did!!

 

BTW the girl on FB that was jumping through the same hoops that you did to get her husband's passport got it today!! So they too will have a great cruise!

Yay! You found my post!

It was so funny, I told my DH that this vacation from when we booked it day 1 to day whatever- when we finally got off the ship, was just so crazy. With the passport/citizen drama... to the hurricane... to going to Mexico... to extra days... And then! Because of the hurricane, it took us 10 hours to get home, normally 6 hours. So it was just nuts. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat (well minus the passport crap)

I am glad the other girl got everything handled! Yay!

We were on this cruise as well, also very impressed with the captain and crew! Did you have any trouble with the ventilation? I became ill with my head and sinuses whenever I was inside too long. I had to sleep with a damp washcloth over my face to keep from feeling all dried out. Just wondering if anyone else had similar issues on this ship?

I did not have this issue.

Glad you made it back safely and seemingly none the worse for wear ! We are leaving the 30th ....first-timers :) did you park at the port ? stay at a nearby hotel ? any other advice to share for a couple of noobies ? T I A

I was lucky enough to have a friend that lived 15 mins from the port. We stayed with her Saturday night and she drove us to the port Sunday Morning and I left my car at her place.

However, from what I have read and heard from others, parking at the port is a breeze. They have a traffic pattern you have to follow around to get into the secured garage and you can take the shuttle or walk over to the Port.

Getting off was even easier. We had FTTF so we could get off any time we want. Since we had to drive home, we went first thing. Left our room at 6:25 and was in our uber at 6:40.

Also, before my friend offered her place, we had a hotel booked in Mt Pleasant. The Best Western at Patriots Point. They had a shuttle to the port and very reasonable rates ("Park & Cruise Package"). Downtown Charleston is crazy expensive and Mt Pleasant is 10 mins away.

Just got off the Ecstasy on Monday morning.

What a crazy cruise! What was supposed to be a 6 day 3 Port Bahamian cruise turned into an 8 Day 1 Overnight/2 Day Port in Mexico!

The Captain and Staff were amazing! The Captain got us the heck out of dodge by leaving an hour earlier than planned and hauled ass to Mexico, giving us 2 sea days to start. He then made the decision to stay in Cozumel overnight due to Matthew hitting Charleston the day we were supposed to return. Then he put us way behind the storm and the only time we hit some rough water was the last day... and by rough, it was nothing. Drinks didn't spill and people didn't fall out of bed. We had to stay an extra day at sea due to the Port of Charleston being closed.

That leads me to the crew! Not just the entertainment, but the cabin stewards, the dining staff, the comedians, the cleaning staff, the chefs/cooks... they did a great job! Ben, the cruise director, and his fun squad came up with different variety shows, different games, and a lot of activities. The comedians rose up and did extra shows. The food was always flowing. The Cabin Stewards kept the rooms clean even though we weren't charged any extra gratuity from Carnival. The wait staff in the dining room always smiled.

It was a great cruise!

If you have any questions about the cruise or ship or crew, I'd be more than happy to answer!

Some Notes:

1. The staggered check in at Charleston is useless. Its such a small port. Faster to the Fun was okay, but not a deal breaker for me if I cruise out of Charleston again. The line wasn't that long of a wait to get on board.

2. Debarkation was insane fast. We left our room at 6:25am and were in our uber at 6:40

3. Bring air freshener! The bathrooms do not have any air flow so if someone goes #2 the smell sticks around for hours!

4. I didn't know until the last day there was an omelette bar at the Wok place in the morning

5. The Kiosks to check your S&S balance suck! Do not go by what is on the main screen where it says Available Balance. Actually look at the statement that you can print out. That will tell you your true balance. Guest Services couldn't tell me why such a large discrepancy on what it displayed to available vs what actually was.

I was on this cruise. We didn't park at the port, but when we left at 640am in our Uber, there were a lot of people coming out of the garage in their cars with no issues :)

Thanks everyone!

This ******* Matthew is making me nervous... but all I know is I will be on a boat Sunday. Where I will end up, not sure...

HAHA Cruzelvr & Sparks1093!

I will be having my fair share of drinks starting Sunday. You won't be able to tell if its the boat swaying or if I am drunk!

Yep! Sunday!

Now that stupid Hurricane is in my way....

I tell you what, this vacation has been something.

LOOKIE WHAT I GOT TODAY!

lets see if this works .... is there icon in the upper right corner of the post?

Only thing for me in upper right corner is the report this post triangle

That is such GREAT news!!! BUT my fingers are still crossed until you tell us you have your passport in your hands!

 

PS -

I said yes to your request now what?

LOL I have no clue... I sent the request to a few people that I have befriended over this ordeal and nothing has happened when I did.

Its been a bit since an update. I have been speaking with Florida Vital Records everyday, and I just got somewhere. I had put rush on the envelope and even put it in a fancy dancy envelope that said Priority on it in big red letters, but it was taking forever (well it seems that way) to make sure they got it. I have confirmation now, that they processed the application Monday and put my fathers birth certificate in the mail Monday! So I should have it tomorrow! Then I can overnight it to the passport agency with the rest of my docs and then they will overnight my passport back to me.

I am soooooo close to having part 1 of this nightmare behind me!

And sooooooooooo close to being on that ship!

Look at that countdown \/

If traveling within two weeks you could make an appointment at your Federal passport office (all those documents would make me nervous)

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/services/expedited.html

I have a case worker assigned to my passport case right now so I couldn't go to the passport office. I am not worried about having it back for my cruise at this point since I have gotten the okay from several people that my Naval Hospital BC will be fine. I just want it cause I have paid all this money and put in all this time to get it.

That is interesting to know on benefits. Did you find that out during all this?

My husband has a Certificate of Citizenship, with a picture of him at 5 years old signed by his father. That always caused many questions when he used it.

I'me glad to know that he may need it in the future. Thanks for passing along great information from your adventure.

Sorry forgot to respond to your question. I was told this by 3 of the different people I talked to. All unrelated agencies so it must be true.

No update right now. Sent in a request for my dad's birth certificate yesterday with rush fees, so hoping to have it back by next Friday. Then will overnight to passport agency with all the other documents I have gathered :)

Stay tuned.

TWENTY THREE DAYS UNTIL WE CRUISEEEEEEEEEEEE. I need it!

Sparks & Capri- I can no longer get my FS240 because I am over 18. I have to now get my Certificate of Citizenship. I will need this in my future to get any gov't benefits such as Social Security or Medicare.

TXCatty- I will see if I can look her up

Everyone- Thank you for following along! Can. Not. Wait. Until. October. 2.

One that I remember was cruising in TWO days, but I think she got it resolved. Another one was on Facebook - Christine .... I'm getting really nervous!! We applied for our passports! I got mine but there is a hold on my husbands! He was born on a military base in Germany. He does have a US birth certificate but now also needs a born aboard certificate! It's a big mess. If you want to reach out to her I can see if she wants me to share contact info.

Is this on a public FB post? Or a friend of yours...

I haven't read all the replies, so I don't know if somebody else has said this or not. Through some ridiculous concatenation of events, I didn't have a valid birth certificate. Tried to get one through the state and the county both, and neither one of those thought I existed. The way I got my passport was through an old (really old!) census record that showed me as being a valid human being. That and notarized statements from my Dad and my older brother got me a passport. So, if all else fails, try census records.

I am on the way to getting my passport. so Yay!

Since there was no Consular Record of Birth Abroad or Certificate of Citizenship I had to provide:

Parents Birth Certificates- in which I need to get a copy of my dads from the state

My dad changed his name at 18 so I had to provide his name change too

Parents Marriage License

An affidavit from my mom from where she was from when she born to when I was born. I also was supposed to supply this for my dad, which I couldn't as he has passed away. My mom luckily had on hand her history of transactions from the navy covering her enlistment to when I was born so she just had to write a statement saying she lived in two states and the time frame.

Then because my dad had passed, I had to provide his death certificate and his DD214. Originally they requested where my dad had been from when he was born to when I was born too which was going to be impossible without him here, but his DD2214 & Death Certificate & Birth certificate is fine.

Then they asked for my mom's DD214 as well.

The only thing I am waiting on is to get a copy of my dads birth certificate. He was born in Florida and they were busy getting hit by a hurricane today so I couldn't reach out to them yet. (Offices were closed).

THENNNNNNNNNNNNN I will be able to get my passport. But that is all separate from my citizenship crap.

Sigh- they can take my taxes but can't tell me for 30 years that I am not legal. You would think when I filled out my voters registration something would have red flagged. But nope, I am a legal voter too.

I can't believe all that you have been going through - pure hell! its scary that those government people are running our country. Did you ever hear back from the people that found your missing Fed-X? What did they say - no FS240? If so, will they refund your money since they can't providing a copy?

 

I really hope this all works out for you. I have read 2-3 other posts from people in the same predicament, so if it makes you feel betters there are others out there going thru the same hell.

 

Still got my fingers crossed!!!

Correct, no FS240. No clue if I will ever see that money back, I have asked.

Can you post the posts? I would like to help others with my knowledge.

So there was a mechanical delay with the plane carrying my birth certificate so I won't get it until tomorrow or Tuesday. Geezy Petes, can nothing go right with this?!

But the latest is: I am working on getting my passport still since I have paid for it. I need a bunch of paperwork to prove my parents citizenship, which is stupid because both of them are retired navy, so you think their DD214 would suffice. I was stressing out yesterday about it but my mom surprisingly had 90% of the paperwork I needed. Some of the paperwork requested was just crazy they asked for it so I was surprised my mom had it. She is not an organized type at all (my dad passed June 2015 so he can't help me in any of this)

I also heard back from GITMO Naval Hospital today from my call TWO WEEKS ago! Their records do not go back to 1985 so the officer could not tell me if a FS240 was filed or not. He told me that he sees about 1 out of 10 born abroad babies that were born before modern technology call all the time asking this same question and that 1 out of 10 does not have it. The issue is mostly with Cuba and US not having gov't ties so there is no US Embassy in Cuba (by the way, he also told me that they still have the gates lock and they still aren't allowed off base). That they have to have someone fly over from the US Embassy in Jamaica once a month to approve these Birth Abroads and that back in the day there was no follow up or easy way to communicate with parents, dept of state, & embassies to make sure it was done for everyone.

Anyways... I still have to file for a certificate of citizenship with US Immigration... that is a whopping $600 and an in person interview! I have to do this because if I ever need gov't benefits in the future (Social Security, Medicare, etc) I need this certificate to do so. Because I am over 18, I cannot file for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad/FS240.

So, in conclusion, I only need to get a couple small items from the state of Florida for my dad and I should be able to get my passport. I may not have it in time for the cruise, but I will have it none the less.

A bit has happened since lunch time.

First is, my Birth certificate is being overnight-ed to me from the passport agency, got a tracking number and everything. SOOOOOOOOO I will have that back in time for the cruise. Which I called again and my US rep has called both Port Authority & Customs in Charleston and we both have gotten that this will suffice for my trip since it is a closed loop cruise.

But in the mean time, I am still trying to get my passport. I am going to have to deal with this at one point in my life because half my husbands family lives in Scotland and we want to go there. And it is just good to have your passport as a just in case. I have to jump thru a bunch of hoops and am trying to get it all done within 90 days of the initial letter that was sent to me on Aug 15th. I have to provide a lot of info from my parents, which my dad passed June of 2015 so it may take more than 90 days to get handled. If I don't do it within the 90 days I lose my passport application fee and all the work thus far into this. My mom is going thru her documents to see what she has, I am lucky they were married for almost 40 years and so I don't have even more craziness to deal with as if they were separated.

I have also emailed the Havana Consular and Guantanamo Bay Naval Hospital to see if they can come up with anything.

Thanks all for following along, advice, and words of empathy.

Sigh... I guess I just need to try to start laughing at this whole thing.

US Reps office finally gets a hold of State Dept. Turns out I do NOT have a FS240 on file. I say, huh? Passport agency told me I did. US Reps office says, "that is a standard answer"... so 2 weeks and $125 wasted, I don't know what is going to happen.

US Reps office says they are working on it, but I lack faith in them from all this wrong information. No Joke, none of this has gone smoothly. I am not trying to play victim. It is not the Reps or Dept of States fault I do not have this. It should have been something my parents should have had when I was born. I am only upset because of the wrong info I have been constantly given and fees I have had to pay for nothing.

While the Reps office is trying to figure it out, I am also trying to get my BC back from the passport agency so I can cruise with it. (Remember what Steve said a few posts back)